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Archive for September, 2007
We’ll kick your ass and break your camera

That’s about the words that was said to me Friday night when I wanted to shoot some photos during a fight between two fan groups during the Danish Ice Hockey Cup final (not the championship game).

A scrum broke out during the second intermission. A group of fans from Roedovre (the team I covered) was standing outside the arena talking, drinking, having a cigarette or whatever and a group of fans from Odense was standing 15-20 feet from them. They were yelling stuff back and forth and one of the guys from the Odense group wanted to get a hold of the Roedovre fans. Security personnel kept the guy away but it didn’t keep a fight from breaking out. A cup of beer flew through the air and all the beer plus the plastic container hit a girl square in the face. Right after that a group of Odense fans started chasing down the Roedovre fans who were running for their lives.

I followed the people and got my camera ready to shoot some photos of the fighting when I was approached by to guys who ran past me. They turned around stopped me and said something like “We’ll kick your ass and break your fucking camera if you take any pictures”.

Seeing how they basically jumped innocent people, I decided not to test them and kept away. It was dark so I wasn’t able to just shoot the stuff from a distance.

After the game was done, more fighting broke out outside the arena. On my way back to my car carrying two cameras, my 300mm and a bag over my shoulders I met up with a colleague. He told me to start taking pictures of all the stuff happening. Two police officers and one of the security personnel from the arena was standing right next to us and the security guy told me that “if you take a single picture I’ll trash your camera!”.

I’m baffled by this. The police officers did nothing. NOTHING. I’m in my full right to shoot whatever I want in the street basically. Being a member of the danish union of Journalists I have a press card stating that I can actually get behind police lines. Not that there were any police lines or anything, but he couldn’t keep me from doing my job. This episode has been reported to the association of sports journalists by the way. I can’t do anything about fans telling me stuff like that. But he was security and had no right to keep me from doing my job, which was basically what he did …

With so many people in the streets and my car still over 100 meters away I didn’t want to just put down all my gear to shoot some photos though I almost did. I wanted to shoot a photo of the security guy just to document what he looked like, but they were busy arresting people and what not.. So I didn’t take any pictures..

As a guy told me….

“The most important thing is that you walked away from it with no broken bones and your gear still intact. Nobody says thank you after words anyway.”

Setting sun

Ok so I know the title is a bit misleading. This is about the sun however.

As I guess all of you know the calendar says mid September. We’re no longer looking at high sun past 8 pm which means it’s getting darker faster and once the sun is setting it gives you some harsh shadows.

When shooting outdoor (sports in particular) under a clear sky and bright sun, i always position myself so I shoot with the sun straight behind me. so I get a well distributed lighting of the subject(s). With this rule, some stadiums give me end line shooting while others give me side line shots (which is not always great for soccer as you tend to get “side shots” - pictures of people’s side instead of front).

This past Saturday I shot game from 4pm and it was sort of corner lighting which meant it came in on the field in a 45 degree angle. Turned out to suit me well. I rarely get good jubilation shots as I tend to find myself camping at the wrong side or end of the field. This time it turned out just perfect.

BIF-LSF-10_150907_BP.jpg
Jakob Halling of Ledoeje-Smoerum celebrates after scoring a goal against Ballerup. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2,8 1/3200sec, ISO100)

Talk about contact with the player. I shot like 10 frames as he came running towards me and just one of those frames had him looking at the camera.

Recent work

I’ve been busy not updating the blog, so I figured it was time to spam you with a series of photos from recent assignments.

danskebank-loebet2_220807_BP.jpg
Every year the city and local track and field club arrange a race. This was the start of the 5km run. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM @ 200mm, f/2,8 1/500sec, ISO500)

gaspipe_300807_BP.jpg
Road construction resulted in a broken gas pipe, so the fire department and police blocked off a longer section the street. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM @ 70mm, f/2,8 1/800sec, ISO125)

laerer-hendriksholm1_220807_BP.jpg
Teachers might have to run faster in the future. A potential budget cut in the teachers budget, will not allow for payment for extra hours. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 26mm, f/4 1/125sec, ISO250)

mikkelbodker_090707_BP.jpg
The Dane Mikkel Bodker was selected fifth overall in the CHL import Draft by the Kitchener Rangers who plays in the Ontario Hockey League. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 33mm, f/22 1/250sec, ISO100)

rallysprint_260807_BP.jpg
A rally car blazes past spectators during a local Rally Sprint. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 40mm, f/20 1/50sec, ISO100)

skovlunde-skjold6_190807_BP.jpg
Skjold goaltender picks the wrong side on a penalty kick and can only watch the ball go in the net. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/2500sec, ISO400)

theater_050807_BP.jpg
A shakespeare comedy theater show. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/400sec, ISO640)

  
WHO AM I?
I'm a photojournalist working as a staff photographer at a local newspaper. These are my stories and experiences from my daily assignments.
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